The use of aminopolycarboxylates as builders and laundry detergent additives is generally disclosed in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,560,492 discloses laundry detergent compositions, essentially free of phosphate detergency builders, containing an aluminosilicate or organic detergency builder and from about 0.5% to about 10% by weight of the chelant, HEDTA.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,397,776 discloses liquid laundry detergent compositions having chelating agents which include aminopolycarboxylates such as NTA, EDTA, DTPA and HEDTA.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,920,564 discloses softener/detergent formulations containing surfactants, quaternary ammonium or diamine fabric softeners, and a builder salt selected from aminopolycarboxylates and/or sodium citrate. Examples of suitable aminopolycarboxylates include NTA, EDTA and HEDTA.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,151,084 discloses detergent compositions in which solubility is said to be improved by the addition of 0.25% to 4% of a mixture of EDTA and a solubilizing agent selected from salts of N,N-di(2-hydroxyethyl) glycine, iminodiacetic acid, NTA and HEDTA.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,704,233 discloses ethylenediamine N,N'-disuccinic acid and salts as a detergent additive which is said to enhance the removal of food and beverage stains.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,183,590 discloses N-(hydroxysuccinyl) cysteic acid as a corrosion inhibitor for aqueous systems.
None of these references disclose or recognize the compositions of the present invention or the unique ability of EAC to assist in the removal of stain from fabric.
In addition, none of these references disclose or recognize EAC is a novel potentially readily biodegradable chelant/sequestrant suitable for detergent, personal product, cosmetic, food, oral hygiene, pharmaceutical and industrial applications.